Grid coverages are usually two-dimensional. However, {@linkplain #getEnvelope their envelope}may have more than two dimensions. For example, a remote sensing image may be valid only over some time range (the time of satellite pass over the observed area). Envelopes for such grid coverage can have three dimensions: the two usual ones (horizontal extent along x and y), and a third one for start time and end time (time extent along t). However, the {@linkplain GeneralGridRange grid range} for all extra-dimension musthave a {@linkplain GeneralGridRange#getLength size} not greater than 1. In other words, a{@code GridCoverage2D} can be a slice in a 3 dimensional grid coverage. Each slice can have anarbitrary width and height (like any two-dimensional images), but only 1 voxel depth (a "voxel" is a three-dimensional pixel).
Serialization note:
Because it is serializable, {@code GridCoverage2D} can be included as method argument or asreturn type in Remote Method Invocation (RMI). However, the pixel data are not sent during serialization. Instead, the image data are transmitted "on-demand" using socket communications. This mechanism is implemented using JAI {@link SerializableRenderedImage}class. While serialization (usually on server side) should work on J2SE 1.4 and above, deserialization (usually on client side) of {@code GridCoverage2D} instances requires J2SE 1.5.
@since 2.1
@source $URL$
@version $Id$
@author Martin Desruisseaux (IRD)
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